1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a tube railway system that reduces noise and air resistance using a sealed evacuated tube as a railway passage, thereby allowing a train to run at a very high speed and, more particularly, to a vacuum division management system and a vacuum blocking screen device for the tube railway system required to maintain vacuum (about ⅓ to about 1/1000 of atmospheric pressure), in which the vacuum blocking screen device is installed at every certain section or at a designated section of a tube railway to rapidly block a passage of a tube railway train according to an operation signal. The vacuum blocking screen device is operated in a specific section of the tube railway when a vacuum maintenance problem occurs, or when the vacuum needs to be released, for instance, due to maintenance repair, or when the train needs to stop immediately, such that the specific section is isolated from the other sections to have a degree of vacuum different from those of the other sections.
2. Description of the Related Art
Tube railways are utilized to implement an ultra high-speed train system. Tube railways refer to means of transportation in which a train travels in a sealed evacuated track space.
The train travelling on the tube railway includes a magnetic levitation (Maglev) train or a wheeled train. Trains employing other propellant systems can also travel on the tube railway.
When a sealed evacuated tube is used as a tube railway passage noise and air resistance can be reduced.
Tube railways generally have a circular cross-section having a diameter of about 4 to about 10 meters, or a quadrilateral or polygonal cross section having a similar size, and have a structure in which top and bottom lines are individually enclosed by the tube railway passage. The degree of vacuum in the passage is generally a negative pressure that ranges from about ⅓ to about 1/1000 of atmospheric pressure.
Since a train compartment in which passengers are located must maintain the atmospheric pressure, the train for the tube railway must be sealed. To this end, the train is equipped with a sealing system.
In the tube railway system, the tube is isolated from the atmosphere, and its interior must be maintained under vacuum. If the vacuum is broken at a certain part of the tube, the vacuum of other parts of the tube physically connected thereto is also broken. A speed at which the vacuum is released, i.e., a speed at which the vacuum is broken, is approximate to the speed of sound, i.e., about 1224 km/h.
Thus, if any part of the tube is damaged and the vacuum begins to be released, it affects other part of the tube that maintains the vacuum state. To prevent this phenomenon, it is necessary to physically isolate the corresponding part of the tube. Otherwise, leakage of the vacuum in any part affects an entire interior of the tube, so that the train must stop operating or travel at a low speed throughout a service route. Further, to increase the degree of vacuum, the operating time and cost of a vacuum pump greatly increase.
Further, when tube railway equipment is damaged, and thus workers are required to directly enter the tube railway to repair the damaged tube railway equipment, it is efficient to release the vacuum only in the corresponding section to be repaired to return to the atmospheric pressure. To this end, there exists a need for a system in which the tube railway is divided into sections, each section being provided with equipment capable of blocking the release of the vacuum.